title: Profile of elderly with multiple physician visits: advocacy for tailored comprehensive geriatric assessment use in clinics.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The rapid growth of the elderly population has given rise to the need for better geriatric care. The present study explored the common conditions of elderly outpatients with multiple physician visits in order to develop feasible clinical indicators that can be rapidly administered for the evaluation of geriatric syndromes in outpatient settings.
  
  
  METHODS
  The National Health Insurance Research Database (2008) was analyzed. Claims for elderly outpatients with more than two physician visits in the same day were retrieved. The primary diagnoses, types of prescriptions and comorbidities were cross-examined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The overall prevalence rate for elderly patients with multiple physician visits ranged from 28.41% to 39.40%, and which increased steadily with age. A maximum of seven physician visits in a single day was observed. The most common multiple physician visit was two visits per day, with a prevalence rate of 30.97%. The two most common accompanying conditions were hypertension (3.79%) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (3.68%). There was a greater relative increase in the prevalence of senile dementia and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in older age groups. The three overall leading specialties were cardiology, internal medicine, and ophthalmology; however, rehabilitation medicine was the most common female-specific specialty. The most commonly prescribed medications were antihypertension drugs. The most prevalent comorbidity was type 2 diabetes mellitus and hypertension.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We conclude that our data represent crucial information for the design of concise assessment metrics for application to the most chronic conditions in an effort to implement better geriatric healthcare.
authors.affiliation: Doctoral Student, Graduate Institute of Nursing, College of Nursing, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan; Department of Nursing, Cardinal Tien Junior College of Healthcare and Management, Taipei, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Mei-Chen
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Kuo
authors.forename: Chii
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jeng
authors.forename: Ching-Min
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Wen-Shan
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Jian
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment / Q000379:methods*; D006268:Health Facilities; D006299:Health Services for the Aged / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male
keywords: National Health Insurance; comprehensive geriatric assessment; utilization pattern